Lever-carried latch-handle lock



W. A. SWONGER.

LEVER CARRIED LATCH HANDLE LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.20, 1921.

1,435,3@. Patented Nov. 7, 1922;

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W. 'A. SWUNGEB.

LEVER CARRIED LATCH HANDLE LOCK. APPLICATION FILED AUG-20, 1921.

1,435,030 Patented 1w. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEE'I 2- Patented Nov. Z 1922.

l tli atliil LEVER-CARRIED LATCH-HANDLE LOCK.

Application filed August 20, 1921. Serial No. 493,920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. SwoNonn, a citizen of the United States residing at Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have. invented a certain new and useful Lever-Carried Latch-Handle Look, of which the following isa specification.

The purpose of my invention is to reduce lost motion in electric lock application to mechanical levers used in connection with railway interlocking and signalling.

A further purpose of my invention is to simplify the switch and signal interlocking rendering the parts more accessible and less expensive.

A. further purpose is to mount a lock directly upon a mechanical lever used in connection with railway interlocking and sigand lock directly into a part rigid with the latch handle.

A further purpose is to extend lever locking to a great variety of levers with which locking is now considered impracticable.

A further purpose is to prevent the locking dog from climbing the edge of a notch with which it is intended to engage.

A further purpose is to enable the ope ator of a locked lever used in connection with railway interlocking and signalling to stand as is most convenient for operation of the lever without necessity for operation of a floor push.

A further purpose in lever locking is to avoid most of the cost of a floor push ordinarily used to close acircuit through an electric lock, using a hand switch instead of the floor push and mounting it upon the lever. 7

Further purposes will appear in the specification and in the claims.

I have preferred to illustrate my inven tion by butone form of lock for the latch handle, with a' slight modification of the notch end, selecting a form which is practical, efficient, inexpensive and remarkably rigid and which at the same time well'illustrates the principles of my invention.

7 Figure 1 is a broken side elevation showi119; a mechanical lever used in connection with railway iIltQI'lOCkiIlg' and signalling.

Figure 2 is an enlarged broken side elevation, of parts shown in Figure 1 with the nailing. apply a latch handle to the lever side plate of the lock removed and a hand circuit closure carried by the lever.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of a segment plate and a locking dog differing slightly from that shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the look.

In the drawings similar numerals indicate like parts.

Though capable of and intended for much wider use, my invention was originated to overcome the objections present in existing forms of electric locks for the latch handles of switch and signal levers in railway mechanical interlocking systems. The latch handle locks which have been found capable of use up to the present time and which are generally used are open to objection from four standpoints.

Much of the most serious objection lies in the fact that there is considerable lost motion between the locking dog and the latch handle and, indeed, between the locking dog and the rocker or other nearest part of the interlocking machine through which locking is effected.

A second objection is that the position of the lock, normally on top of the mechanical locking bed, interferes with construction and maintenance.

The plain face of the locking notch used makes it possible for an operator who has set up a wrong route to strain the latch handle and jar the lock, causing the locking dog to climb the notch face of the segment lifting the dog without waiting for electromagnetic release of the lock.

The present floor push used to close the circuit preparatory to operation of the lever is objectionable from the standpoint of expense, possible electrical trouble at a point difficult of access and because it requires a particular position. for the operator in throwing the lever.

Various other locks have been proposed,

intended to overcome certain defects in the locks in use, but these have been barred from use in the railways because they violate funmoved is the latch handle, which. in present apparatus in use, is not locked directly but through the latch rod. the rocker die, the rocker and special connection to a segment with which the lock actually engages. This brings these several parts under strain when attempt is made to operate the latch handle and. unavoidably permits lost motion at a number of points, endangering improper movement of the lever when its latch handle supposed to be locked. \Vhen the mechanism is locked at the latch handle, as in my construction. lost motion is substantially eliminated and an operator in. endeavoring to throw the latch handle when it is locked, cannot put any strain whatever on any part of the train of mechanism other than upon the latch handle.

In the figures I show my lock applied to a latch handle of a mechanical lever used in connection with railway interlocking and signalling. The mechanical lever has the usual front-tail and. back-tail levers 6 and 7 and is pivoted at some such point as at 8 in a frame 9. It carries a latch handle 10. a latch rod. 11. a latch spring 12 and a rocker die 13. The rocker die in the position shown locks the lever 5 against the end of the quadrant 14; upon frame 9.

By means of the latch handle 10 the rocker die 13 may be raised above the end, face of the quadrant 11, simultaneously unlockingthe lever 5 and moving the rocker 15 on its pivot 16, so that the lever 5 may be thrown. During the lever movement the rocker die 13 slides in the slot of the rocker 15 and along" the quadrant 14:. until the end of the throw is reached and finally drops to lock the lever against the other end face of the quadrant with further tilting of the rocker. Tilting of the rocker causes preliminary locking" through universal link 17. All of the above so far as described is old and well-known.

To avoid lost motion, to avoid unnecessary strains on the mechanism, to lessen the number of parts, to make operation easier and more convenient and the locking mechanism simpler and less costly, I apply my lock di--' rectly to the latch handle 10 by having the lock engage a segment 18 rigidly connected to the latch handle.

I recognize that the character of this nienr ber 18 and the type of lock applied to it may be greatly varied by those shilled in the art. in view of my disclosure, and my description herein is intended, therefore, to be represe ntative of apparatus whose inventive concepts will be present in various structures all embodying my invention.

With the segment plate shown I provide a notch 19 having a-face 20 against which the face 21 of the locking dog 22 is intended to Q g The doginoves upwardly and downwardly in a slot 23 'in'the lock frame The walls of this slot support the lock close to the notch and take the strain upon the dog away from the lever 25, to which it is pivoted at 26.

In order to free the'action of the dog from complication by electromagnetic forces, the outer part 27 of the lever is made of non-magnetic material which is secured to the armature 28 by fastenings such as the screws shown at 29. The armatiu'e 28 is of a niagnetizable material and is pivoted at 30 to a support 31, forming part of amagnetic circuit passing through the magnet core 32.

The magnet winding 33 is connected with binding posts 34 and 35 to which in Figure 1 the controlling wires 36 and 37 are fastened. In this figure I have preferred to show the main feature of my invention, the latch handle lock, free from complication by the other features of my invention relating to the engagement between a knurled, rubbed or roughened notch face of any-character giving a. sufficiently non-smooth surface and the dog and the use of a lever mounted hand switch in'place of a floor push.

In Figure 2 one of the wires is connected to one contact of ahand switch 38, whose other contact 39 is connected with the binding post 35, so that this hand switch preferably a push button-may be used instead of the expensive and inaccessible floor pushes now used to close the circuit for magnetic release of the look when the magnet is energized.

The lock is mounted upon the lever 5 in such a way as to require removal of a locked. front plate 40 before the lock itself can be removed. It overlies the turn pins 41 and 42 pivoting the latch handle to the latch rod and to the handle 5. respectively, upon the sides of these pins upon which they are removable.

Except for the inconvenience and risk of injury entailed by carrying the wires 36 and 37 out upon the handles of the latch and lever respectively, the hand switch could be located upon either of these handles so as to make its operation automatic with the attempt to throw the latch handle. On account of the risk of injury, I prefer to place the hand switch upon the lock frame or upon a protected portion of the lever.

In Figure 3 the notch face 20 and cooperating face 21 of the dog are shown as i 'iterfittii'ig suitably to prevent climbing of the dog upon the face. and I have exhibited the interfitting by showing a projecting nose 13 upon the-dog fitted in a recess 44: within the face. Of course any ribbing' or other formation that wo'uld'cause them to interfit s'ufliciently would do. The interfi'tting requires slightly more spacing beween the notchfacc and the dog in post tion of nonusc than would otherwise be required, but this is trifling and would not result in so much as taking up the lost motion between the latch handle and the rocker die in practice.

In operation: When the foot push or push button is closed, if current be available upon the wires 36 and 37 (i. e., in case of a track system, if the track be free from short circuiting wheels and axles) the electromagnet will be energized and the locking dog will be lifted, leaving the latch handle free to move to release the latch rod, releasing the rocker die from the quadrant so that the mechanical lever may be thrown. This will be true whether the levers posi tion has been forward or reverse. The lever is then thrown to its extreme position where the spring pressed latch rod causes the rocker die to again move into position to engage with the end of the quadrant.

Obviously with different or less elaborate systems of locking, the detail of movement and of locking and release mechanism operated by the latch handle will vary greatly and my description has been intended to explain merely the particular operations taking place in the particular application of the invention which I have shown to mechanical levers used in connection with railway signalling and interlocking.

With the opportunity presented by my lock to apply latch handle locking, independently of the character of connections or the r use to which the lever is put. the detail of the lever locking mechanism connected with the latch handle becomes less important and much more widely varied.

Having thus described my invention. what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An electric latch handle lock, comprising an electromagnet and a dog operated thereby, in combination with a mechanical lever used in connection with railway interlocking or signalling, upon which lever the electromagnet and dog are mounted, a latch handle for said lever and a member rigid with said latch handle and with which the dog is adapted to engage.

2. In a lever locking mechanism, a mechanical hand lever, a latch handle carried by the lever and connections therefrom, an electric lock carried by the lever and a member carried by the latch handle, locked directly by said electric lock.

3. In a lever locking mechanism, a mechanical hand lever, a latch handle pivoted thereon, a segment plate rigid with the latch handle and an electric lock adapted to engage the segment plate to lock the latch handle.

4. In a lever locking mechanism, a mechanical hand lever, a latch handle, an electric lock adapted to restrain movement of the latch handle and a separately hand operated switch in the circuit of the lock and carried by the lever for closing the electric circuit before movement of the latch handle.

5. In a lever locking mechanism, a me chanical hand lever and latch handle therefor, locking connections from the latch handle and an electric lock controlling the position of the latch handle, the lock and a part connected with the latch handle interlocking in two directions of relative movement and preventing further movement in the direction of removal of the lock when pressure is placed upon the latch handle.

6. In a lever locking mechanism, a me chanical hand lever, a latch handle, locking connections therefrom, an electric lock having a recessed locking face and a matching member operated by said latch handle adapted to be engaged by said face to prevent release while the latch is being operated.

WILLIAM A. SWONGER. 

